Support-Free 3D Printing and What Drives the Price
Support-free 3D printing in SLS and MJF lets the powder hold the part, so price follows volume, bounding box and packing, not supports. How to cut it.
On an FDM or resin print, a good chunk of the cost can be material you snap off and throw away. Support-free 3D printing changes what you're paying for.
How Is an SLS or MJF Part Priced If There Are No Supports?
Mostly by how much space and powder the part uses. With no supports to count, price tracks solid volume, the bounding box, how well the part packs into a build, and finishing.
An r/AdditiveManufacturing user asked what factors services like PCBWay use to price SLS, so he could cut cost at the design stage. The top reply said volume and Z height matter most, along with how well parts nest. A C-shape nests and an O-shape doesn't. Another listed packing density, oversize fees, machine time and margin.
Why support-free 3D printing works
Formlabs' SLS guide puts it plainly: "The unfused powder supports the part during printing and eliminates the need for dedicated support structures." Overhangs and internal channels sit in loose powder until the build cools. MJF is also a powder-bed process, so the same holds there.
No supports doesn't mean no cleanup. Parts come out caked in powder and need depowdering, and a sealed hollow keeps whatever powder is trapped inside.
What you're paying for instead
Our 3D printing page spells out the inputs. Price starts from the mesh's "bounding box, surface area and solid volume", then applies the material's packing factor and a finish multiplier. Parts are also checked against the build envelope in two orientations.
That gives you levers you can actually pull.
A solid block costs powder. The same thread suggested coring out with ribs, since walls around 2 mm are usually fine and anything past 4 mm rarely earns its keep. Leave a way for the powder to get out, as covered in hollow MJF parts and escape holes. For hole size on your part, ask us when you quote.
A long, skinny part wastes build height or floor space. Splitting it or reorienting it can change the box a lot. Orientation affects accuracy as well, which is why Z-axis tolerance runs looser than X-Y on MJF.
Quantity helps because parts share a build. The page says volume and quantity discounts are applied automatically.
Where supports still show up
DigiForge also prints SLA resin and FDM filament, and those do use supports. The quote page says the analysis looks at "volume, supports and build orientation for printing". How much supports add on those processes depends on the part, so ask us when you quote. If you're torn between MJF and SLS for a functional part, this comparison is a better place to start than price.
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